Portable media players are becoming pervasive, particularly among relatively younger people. An unintended side effect of using such players is the damaging effect on the users' hearing. The damaging effect on the users' hearing may be exacerbated by new manners of use (all day use, versus for limited time periods such as during jogging) and, perhaps, by the configuration of the headphones (in the ear).
Furthermore, since the damaging effect on users' hearing is both gradual and cumulative, even those users who are concerned about hearing loss may not behave with respect to their portable media players in a manner that would limit or minimize such damaging hearing effects.